Monday, September 23, 2013

Leah's story

On Friday morning a one year old, eleven-pound Yorkie mix
named Leah was rushed to Friendship in shock and near death.She had been attacked by three large dogs
while her owners were walking her in their neighborhood in Northeast DC.The dogs had broken out of their fenced
yard and were savagely attacking Leah as her owners and the dogs’ owner stood
by unable to break up the fight.A
passing police officer stopped to help and unfortunately was forced to shoot
one of the dogs in order to stop the attack.

Leah presented to us with severe wounds to her chest,
abdomen and left rear leg.Her
owners expressed significant financial concerns when they learned how serious
her condition was.We initially
thought that the bite wounds penetrated her abdomen and she would need an
emergency exploratory surgery.One
of our amazing and generous clients happened to be in the lobby when the owners
arrived and offered to donate money to help with Leah’s care.Friendship stepped in and matched the
donation with money from our Brudder-Sullivan fund.

She was started on intravenous fluids to address the shock, pain
medication to make her more comfortable and antibiotics to prevent infection.Luckily after multiple x-rays we
determined the wounds did not enter her abdomen and emergency surgery was not
needed.She would need an
extensive wound explore of her left leg and belly once she was stable for
anesthesia.

Leah responded well to initial treatment and we put her
under general anesthesia Friday afternoon to assess the extent of her wounds.She had a small
puncture wound on her abdomen where the left leg meets the belly surrounded by
a large dark purple bruise that extended down her left leg.The puncture was opened up to better
allow us to visualize what was going on under the skin.Underneath there was extensive damage
to the muscles of her inner thigh and the surrounding connective tissue.Additionally the femoral vein, which is
the main blood supply to the leg, had a small tear and was leaking.

Given how close the femoral artery and vein were to the wounds Leah was a lucky dog indeed.If either of these important vessels
had been torn during the attack she would have died almost instantly.We cleaned her wound thoroughly and
packed them with an antimicrobial dressing.She will need daily bandages changes done under sedation
while we wait to see what tissue is going die before we can move to surgically
closing the wound.This can take up to a
few weeks and will be very expensive.

For her bandage changes on Saturday and Sunday we were very
happy with how her wounds are looking.The leak in the femoral vein stopped thanks to a special material we
applied called Vetspon that helped to seal over the vessel.We removed some muscle tissue that had
started to die and replaced her bandage.Her red blood cell count and blood protein levels dropped due to loss
through her wounds but she is eating well and seems comfortable on her
intravenous pain medications.It
is heartwarming to see her perk up when her owners come to visit.

Monday we removed more dead muscle and switched to a dressing called Calcium Alginate that will stay in the wound for the next 48
hours.We are trying to wean her
off of the IV medications and switch her to oral medications so she can go
home.We will then have her owners
bring her back and forth for the bandage changes.On Wednesday we will reevaluate the health of the tissue and
see where we need to go.Please
check back in for more updates and keep sending Leah good thoughts to help with
her healing!

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About Me

I am a veterinarian who works at Friendship Hospital for Animals in Washington, DC.
I live in Northwest DC with my four dogs and three cats Poppy, Frank, Sparkle, Lilly, Furla, Vegas and Breaker. Needless to say with this crew there is never a dull moment in my house.
Working at Friendship is amazing and I cannot imagine practicing anywhere else. I hope you enjoy reading about what we do and all the ways you can give your pet the best possible care. I would be lost without the animals in my life; let me help you care for the pets in yours.